There are a number of challenges that we are up against. Google has made some pretty major changes to the Android framework that break compatibility with older proprietary camera and graphics drivers in order to achieve some pretty insane performance, but I am confident that the team will be able to overcome these issues like we have in the past.

For those of you who like to build CM from source yourself, you probably know that the spin-up time when starting a CM7 build is absurdly long due to the high number of devices in our repository. Koush and Arcee have put together a solution to this problem that adds new devices on-demand to your local repository, saving on both bandwidth and the long startup time. Some other great enhancements are coming too, like a completely overhauled music app, a new file manager, and a new launcher based on stock 4.0.

If you have a Nexus S, you can check out the code and build for yourself today. More devices are on the way, and I’ll send out these status updates as we make more progress.

You’ll find many new features (read the CHANGELOG) and support for building on 68 devices! Upgrading from any previous CM-7 release or nightly build should be smooth and no wipe should be required.

New devices since 7.0 included in today’s release are:

• HTC Desire S
• HTC Incredible S
• HTC Incredible 2
• LG Optimus 2X and T-Mobile G2x
• Motorola Backflip (Motus)
• Motorola Cliq / Cliq XT
• Motorola Defy
• Motorola Droid 2
• Motorola Droid X
• Samsung Captivate
• Samsung Fascinate
• Samsung Mesmerize
• Samsung Showcase
• Samsung Vibrant
• Samsung Galaxy S
• Samsung Galaxy S2 (multiple carriers)
• Sony Ericsson Xperia X8
• Sony Ericsson Xperia Mini
• Sony Ericsson Xperia Mini Pro
• Sony Ericsson Xperia Neo
• Sony Ericsson Xperia Play
• Sony Ericsson Xperia Ray
• Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc
• ZTE V9

There are many devices still in beta status (Pyramid, Doubleshot, Shooter, HP Touchpad, Optimus 3D, several more) that we will be promoting to release or release-candidates in the next few weeks when the code is merged to our main branch.

The preferred method of installation is via ROM Manager, but you can directly download the latest release from our mirror network. Head over to our forums to discuss the release or get help. Installation instructions and other information can be found on our wiki.

As we continue to grow and improve CM, we are starting to see support from the industry grow- something that was unheard of previously. Recently, Sony Ericsson assisted our developers by providing over 20 devices, technical assistance, and compatible hardware drivers. CM-7.1 now has support for all recent SEMC devices thanks to this effort. Various other vendors have reached out to us, but we understand that it is still somewhat of a difficult situation. We will soon be providing a porting guide and some information on how vendors can get involved with the project and how/why it will benefit them.

Thanks again for the support, and for making CyanogenMod the #1 community Android distribution. We’ll be following up with a few minor releases and soon it will be time to start work on CM9!

This version is an update to Android 2.3.4, includes many new features, and brings support to several new devices. We are now supporting various Samsung devices (Galaxy S, Captivate, and Vibrant), the LG Optimus 2X (p990) /T-Mobile G2x (p999), HTC Incredible S (vivo), and Motorola CLIQ/CLIQ XT. A full list of features and changes can be found in the CHANGELOG.

This release candidate should be fairly stable for daily use, but always do a backup first in case something goes wrong. You can help out by giving us feedback on the forums and reporting bugs at the issue tracker.

The best way to install CM7.1-RC1 is to use ROM Manager, or you can manually download it from our mirror network.

Many thanks to EVERYONE (we have over 400K CM7 users!) for your continued support, and everyone who has contributed their time to making CM the best Android distribution available!

7.0.2 is available from the usual places (see the original announcement).

As always, the best way to install CM is to use ROM Manager. If you are running the current stable release, you should get a notification when a build is ready for your device. You can also manually download from our mirror network (powered by TD Revolution”), or head over to our forums.

Check out the latest CHANGELOG for a quick summary of everything included in this release.

Thanks to everyone for their continued support and contributions!

EDIT: Sorry guys, we made a mistake and there are issues with 7.0.1. 7.0.2 will be up shortly.

CM7 is based on the 2.3.3 (Gingerbread) release of Android from Google. We’ve added most of the great features from CM6 you know and love, and many new ones including support for several tablets. We are currently providing support for 30 devices! I continue to be amazed with this community and the dedication of everyone involved. It’s a neverending work-in-progress so if you find a problem, please let us know on our issue tracker. There are a few CM6 features that aren’t part of CM7 yet, but they are in the queue for 7.1 already.

The best way to install CM7 is to use ROM Manager. Detailed instructions for rooting your device can be found at our wiki. Manual downloads can be obtained from our mirror network (powered by TDRevolution). If you need help or support, head over to our forums where you’ll find thousands of other CM users, or you can join us in #cyanogenmod on irc.freenode.net.

If you are upgrading from CM6, we recommend performing a backup with something like Titanium Backup and doing a full wipe before installing CM7.

Check out the CHANGELOG to see a full list of credits and features, and please consider clicking the “donate” link below if you like our work.

Unleash your phone today with CyanogenMod 7!

Get the latest from ROM Manager, or head over to our forums or our mirror network for manual downloads.

Edit:

We could never have imagined such a turnout on RC2.  In less than 24 hours since the release, we have accumulated over 150,000 downloads between the RCs of the officially supported devices.  This blows our mind and makes doing this all the more rewarding.

A lot of work has gone into CM7, particularly in the device compatibility area. CodeAurora Forum and OMAPZoom.org have been a huge help, and all the sneaky coders on the CM team who have figured out the remaining issues. And hats off to T-Mobile for open-sourcing their theme engine! Better documentation on creating themes is forthcoming. You’ll also find some very cool new features like a revamped and customizable lockscreen, a restyled music app, “phone goggles”, gesture support everywhere, etc, etc

CM7 is still a work in progress. Some of your favorite features from CM6 might not be there yet, but this is our first checkpoint release and we’ve still got work to do. We also plan to put a bit more visual polish “out of the box” on it.

You can get the latest builds via ROM Manager as they become available, or head over to our forums for manual downloads. Builds of all types are always available on the TDR mirror network.

Thanks, as always, to everyone for their continued support and contributions.

An “official” CyanogenMod version is one that uses our code review system, our source repository, and our mirror network. It should look, act, and feel like CM on any other device, and more importantly, it should follow our release schedules (which is a “when it’s ready” kind of thing, but we do plan our final/RC releases when we feel it’s ready). Most importantly, no major hardware functionality should be broken.

We want to see CM available for every device out there, and our infrastructure (and our developer community) is there for anyone to use. We spend a lot of time making new releases of Android backward-compatible with devices that are not ready for them, and we also spend much time making all of these (sometimes not so pretty) changes co-exist together without breaking other devices. The more eyes on your code, the better it will be.

That said, as much as we’d like it to be, the CMSGS project is not yet an official part of CyanogenMod. There are also a number of other unofficial ports out there which haven’t been submitted to us that we’d love to include. If you’re interested, stop by #cyanogenmod-dev on Freenode. If you didn’t get it from our mirror network or the CM forums, don’t expect it to be up to our standards.

The biggest thing to keep in mind when porting to a new device is to think about how your change is going to affect other devices. This is the biggest reason why we aren’t supporting Samsung devices other than the Nexus S yet. Don’t change hardcoded default values just to suit your device. Use the configuration options available, or add new ones with the original values as defaults. Do a build for another unrelated device after you make your changes (it helps to have another device to test with, of course) and verify it as well. Android was made for this, so do it right.

Like I’ve said so many times before, CyanogenMod is all about the community. And our community can help you too. I’d love to see more of these ports contributed to the project- it’s only going to make things better. We’ve grown from just a mod to what I’d call an “Android distribution” and we need to keep our standards high.

Nightly builds can be downloaded from the TD Mirror Network and the buildbot status can be checked here.